CreaseAndAssist

Kaprizov, yes...our best prospect on paper and probably in terms of talent as of right now.  However, we will for sure not see him for at least two more season if not longer.  

As for Iowa, which I followed closely all season long...

Sam Anas had a great season.  He was especially impressive in the middle portion of the season but he kind of tailed off in the end as did most of the team.  Same could be said for Justin Kloos.  Both were a big part of Iowa's offense last season; which was more well rounded than previous seasons.  Cal O'Reilly had a lot to do with that IMO, and he's not a prospect but he was the team's leader on and off the ice.   Kyle Rau was the only player who was scoring consistently the last 10-15 games, he was another welcome boost of offense.  Gerry Mayhew had some great moments, not sure I'd call him a prospect but he was clutch at times for Iowa.  Gerald Fitzgerald, a late-season college signee from Bemidji State played pretty well; was more productive offensively than I was expecting.  On the blueline, Derek Grant had a good season offensively as did Zach Palmquist who had a decent 2nd half.  Brennan Mennel had a good rookie season, but his +/- was a bit icky...but he provided a fair amount offense for a player making the jump from major junior.  Carson Soucy was solid, if unspectacular.  I thought he did better than I expected when he got a call up to play in the playoffs.  Still needs more work in Iowa IMO.  I'd be interested to see what Louie Belpedio could do on this team; he is a natural power play quarterback and a good leader.  Niklas Svedberg started out good, but then had a pretty ugly middle of the season.  He seemed to get irritated and was prone to giving up the backbreaking goals late in games; Iowa threw so many games away in the 3rd period which is why they failed to make the playoffs.  Steve Michalek seemed to struggle to stay healthy but he was mostly good.  C.J. Motte was good as an emergency call up goalie for Iowa.  

This was easily the best season in Iowa Wild history, but it still came up short and that is valuable development time lost that I think the organization is sick and tired of losing out on.  

The Wild Message Borg is continuing to gain strength...honestly...the invasion has just begun.  

22 hours ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

I hope a lot of these new members like fantasy hockey!

 

Welcome everyone. I am the lone sharks fan(Ok, maybe there are 3-4 more lol)

 

I am also the Hockeyfantasy league all star champion

I play in two leagues.  The question is will the Wild Message Borg league be back?  I won it all this year...by the slimmest of margins.  

10 minutes ago, hf101 said:

The Flyers forum on nhl.com only lasted maybe 2 years.  They never got a decent start as all of the Philly.com Flyer fans had migrated here and another Flyer forum had another group.  It started out with the new website designs as every team having a message board, but they've been dwindling.  The most active one has always been the Canucks forum.

I was on the Wild message boards since 2001.  It used to be the Wild west...the Canucks, oh the board wars we had when were in the Northwest division.  We can hold our own with anyone... 

2 minutes ago, bbgarnett said:

LOL, they were claiming very low usage and engagement on the WMB as one of the reasons for it to be shuttered and then said we should go twitter, facebook, snapchat, youtube or Instagram etc or basically anyplace where they can monitor what we're saying and remove any negative posts about the organization that were directed at the teams pages. They also said if we want a more forum styled place then go check Reddit which they made sure to say was not affiliated in any way with the Minnesota Wild organization. So basically it stems down to the Board which was accessible from the wilds site even if it was never pushed by the organization was not afraid to shed negativity on the team and ownership so therefore it had to be removed.

So true.  Well, that control is lost now.  Its also partly why I lost my name...they didn't want my views to be misconstrued as their own.  Or at least that's part of what I'm guessing...also to drive traffic towards their lame MyStateofHockey.com site.  

Nothing can stop the Wild Message Borg...resistance is futile.  

7 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

I have an odd question. I regularly take a look at several of the prospect rankings, but have always wondered why NHL Central Scouting, in 2018, still separates their rankings between NA skaters and European skaters.  It's not a big deal except as the draft approaches and I'm looking to scout and guess picks for my team--then I find this separation annoying.

 

Does anyone know any practical reason that they still do this?

I might be guessing, but its probably because the teams' European scouts don't really watch any North American players and vice versa for North American scouts to see European-based players so they don't have comparibles the same way.  So they keep it as two lists.  The other agencies find opportunities to watch both groups; at tournaments or cross-over games to try to create just one list.  

You're right though, it is a bit odd.  

(sigh)  Isn't that the truth for us all...

40 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

 

 

A hearty welcome to you guys.  As @hf101 mentioned, we have a great hockey community here.  Though originally founded by Flyer fans because of issues with our former watering hole, this site has grown to be represented by many many NHL teams.  I consider many on here good friends.  We have many knowledgeable members on here with a vast array of hockey knowledge.  We have special blogs, in-game chat and many other features.

 

For those interested in FHL (Fantasy Hockey Leagues) we run 2 leagues that run hand and in hand.  As the League Manager, we are always looking for more GM's.  Please let me kn ow if you are interested.  More info about the those leagues can be found here.....

 

and here .....

 

https://www.hockeyforums.net/fantasy/hf.net-fhl/=1

 

We also special Clubs for non-hockey topics.  Finally we have or own special Mock NHL Draft and Playoff Hockey Fantasy Hockey League .... https://www.hockeyforums.net/fantasy/fantasy-cup-playoffs/=1

 

Overall we have a great time here.  I hope you bring more of your Wild friends here to join our community.  If you have any questions. please do not hesitated to ask either @hf101 or myself, or anyone of the Mods.

 

Again Welcome!

 

best,

Pilldoc

Manager

HF.net Fantasy Hockey League Manager

 

@CreaseAndAssist, I love your screen name.

CreaseAndAssist, give credit to my friend @timnado on Twitter, he thought of it.  My blog was known as the State of Hockey News for 13 years before the Minnesota Wild suddenly became annoyed or aware I used 'State of Hockey' in the title and they sent my boss a Cease and Desist letter.  So my friend came up with Crease And Assist: A Legally Compliant Minnesota Hockey Blog as our official title as sort of a middle finger to the team I follow and write about.  And of course I'm @CreaseAndAssist on Twitter too.  

I posted lots of articles on the Wild.com message boards.  While that may seem like advertisement, I'd just say that quite literally I don't really make any money off of blogging.  USAToday now has partnered with the Sports Daily and that is who I'm writing for now.  I used to write for Fansided for a time under their flagship Gone Puck Wild (and that is affiliated with Sports Illustrated).  I used to have the ability to change my layout a long time ago when I wrote for Most Valuable Network but once they pushed me and other sports bloggers over to Bloguin / Sports Daily...we don't control that kind of content.  I'd certainly put a side link if I had that ability but I really don't.  Its nothing personal.  

8 hours ago, bbgarnett said:

Thanks, was closing in on 14000 posts on the old board so hopefully, all of the guys and gals from the old board migrate to the same place and that I can start working towards 14000+ posts again.  We had tossed around Reddit and this board so who knows what will happen.

I had about 10,000 posts at the old message boards under the LemaireisGOD handle, and about 14,000 posts under my KillerCarlson handle before that.  Our group may have not been that big at the end, but we posted a lot and topics stayed pretty fresh.